"I care not," said the deserted wife, "what degree of ridicule I
may incur; if there be any one chance out of a hundred that I may
obtain some certainty of my husband's fate, I would not miss that
chance for whatever else the world can offer me."
Lady Bothwell next urged the unlawfulness of resorting to such
sources of forbidden knowledge.
"Sister," replied the sufferer, "he who is dying of thirst cannot
refrain from drinking even poisoned water. She who suffers under
suspense must seek information, even were the powers which offer
it unhallowed and infernal. I go to learn my fate alone, and
this very evening will I know it; the sun that rises to-morrow
shall find me, if not more happy, at least more resigned."
"Sister," said Lady Bothwell, "if you are determined upon this
wild step, you shall not go alone. If this man be an impostor,
you may be too much agitated by your feelings to detect his
villainy. If, which I cannot believe, there be any truth in what
he pretends, you shall not be exposed alone to a communication of
so extraordinary a nature. I will go with you, if indeed you
determine to go. But yet reconsider your project, and renounce
inquiries which cannot be prosecuted without guilt, and perhaps
without danger.
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